Todd Akin Campaign Features Rape Victim In Ad Targeting Women

With a heap of new campaign cash from the Republican Party, Republican Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin's (Mo.) campaign released a new ad on Thursday featuring a rape survivor who says she had an abortion.

"The reasons I'm voting for Todd and that I'm so proud of him is because he defends the unborn," says the survivor, a single mother and full-time student who identifies herself as "Kelly." "He's a kind man, a compassionate man, he has so much integrity."

While the woman does not elaborate on her own situation, the ad is clearly meant to show that some rape victims support Akin, even in light of his controversial comment in August that victims of "legitimate rape" don't need the option of abortion because they "rarely" become pregnant. While Republicans initially distanced themselves from Akin and demanded that he leave the race, the party has since decided to stand by him and has funneled $700,000 into his campaign.

Akin has made a big push for the support of conservative female voters in the months since the controversy, which included launching a "Women for Akin" bus tour with Phyllis Schlafly, a conservative activist largely known for her anti-feminist work. Akin's new ad, in addition to featuring a rape victim, features a young female emigrant from Russia.

"I know Congressman Todd Akin knows what government's job is, that is to protect life, not to control life like they did in Russia," she said in the ad. "The reason why I'm supporting Todd Akin is because I love this nation. I love my freedoms. I don't want to lose my freedoms."

Watch the video above.

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Eric Fehrnstrom, senior campaign adviser for Mitt Romney, said on Sunday that issues pertaining to women's reproductive rights, such as abortion and birth control, were "shiny objects" meant to distract voters from the real issues.
"Mitt Romney is pro-life," he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. "He'll govern as a pro-life president, but you're going to see the Democrats use all sorts of shiny objects to distract people's attention from the Obama performance on the economy. This is not a social issue election."